A Dressing Down

Ruby takes on dress codes and trashy costumes

Every time I run a blog written by Ruby, I feel sort of like everyone thinks I’m being the hokey “Family Circus” guy, who would just … draw badly and label it something like “Billy fills in for Dad.”

And I really don’t like “Family Circus,” so that’s not ever the impression I want to give.

Ruby, however, came to me earlier this week and asked if she could write something about dress codes and Halloween, and I said sure.

So here we go. All thoughts and words are hers, I promise.

-Eve

I’ve been frustrated about dress code for awhile now because up until now I have always just worn a uniform to school and that was boring but fine and I didn’t have to worry about it. I was excited to not have to wear a uniform now that I am in sixth grade. But it is actually harder. You can’t wear shorts that are shorter than three inches above your knee and if you are a girl, that is hard. They make boys shorts that long but not girls shorts. It’s not easy to find shorts that fit you in the waist but go long enough and even if you can find them they look awkward.

You also can’t wear shirts with big logos or any writing on them. That means I basically can’t wear anything at Justice, and that is a great store for girls. Even if the shirt doesn’t say anything inappropriate, even if it just says like “floss like a boss,” you can’t wear it.

Then there is the word “modest.” I hate that word and not just like I hate words that annoy me like “tummy.” I hate it because it is all over the dress code and everyone knows it just applies to girls. We have to be modest. We can’t even show part of our shoulders because it might distract the boys or something, like that should be our problem in the first place, but also it’s silly because everyone has shoulders.

All of this was kind of annoying because it’s very hard to find clothes that fit the dress code because people don’t make clothes for girls like that. I found out that was even more true at Halloween.

I wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween and I looked for a costume online and everything was either for a baby or a toddler or it was very revealing. My friend wanted to be Harley Quinn and she ended up wearing something that was not dress code at all but she didn’t even want to, but it was all that people even made. For Strawberry Shortcake, I found shorts that were pretty much booty shorts and fishnets and tops that were crop tops, and I was like “No, I don’t want to wear that to school because I don’t feel comfortable in it and I don’t want a detention.”

That’s another thing about dress code. We should wear what we feel comfortable in. I don’t feel comfortable in inappropriate clothes so I don’t like to wear them. I was not going to wear a revealing costume. So I looked for more costumes. I found something that looked perfect. I clicked on the picture – and it was for a 4-year-old. I had to put the word “tween” into Amazon like 20 times and kept finding stuff with fishnets. That is not OK. I did finally find something that was (ugh) modest, but it could have been a lot easier.

I now officially am to the point where I hate Halloween shopping. I told my mom I was not going to dress up but that’s not true. I love Halloween and I am never going to not dress up, but I think next year, I will make my own costume.

We can all take a step. I don’t mean by disobeying dress code. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. But maybe if we all talked to the principal and asked if we could change the dress code and make it a little more chill and explained our reasons, it would help. If we all did that in a polite way, maybe they would listen to us. Don’t break any rules, but do try to start a respectful discussion.

Also, we need to tell people who make clothes that they need to do better.